China's Lenovo Group Ltd said Thursday it has closed its $2.91-billion U.S. acquisition of the Motorola handset unit from Google Inc., paving the way for a fresh assault on the U.S. smartphone market.
The purchase comes as Lenovo, the world's leading PC maker, ramps up its effort to diversify its business and establish itself as a smartphone maker with global appeal.
Google acquired the iconic smartphone brand and its prized patent portfolio in 2012 for $12.5 billion U.S. but struggled to reverse Motorola's years-long decline. Under the Lenovo deal, Google will retain a significant portion of Motorola's patents.
